Establishing a Site for a Slovenian LILW Repository

In this paper we will describe the practice and siting process for a LILW repository in Slovenia. Slovenia is a small country, and, consequently, its nuclear programme is small. It does include almost everything that large programmes have, but we still do not have a repository. In 2004, the Slovenian Radwaste management agency (ARAO) initiated a new procedure to find a proper location for a LILW repository. ARAO asked all Slovenian communities to participate. All communities have the option to withdraw from the process until they have approved the site. We received eight responses, and we prepared methodologies with different parameters to evaluate all potential sites. All sites were assessed by Slovenian experts, and determinations were based on using prepared methodologies. On the basis of their expert opinions, we prepared a prefeasibility study and chose the three most suitable sites. With these three we continued the process. After that time, one of the communities withdrew from the procedure, and another one reversed its proposed site and proposed a new one. For the third site we continued with the programme, and we prepared a feasibility study with a Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment and preliminary safety calculations for the comparison of different concepts of disposal units. If everything goes according to the plan for this site and the concept, we expect site approval in the first half of 2009. After that, we will start preparing everything necessary for building permission.